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Topic: Cheapskate stories (Read 236580 times)

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

I've seen this tip on several frugal living sites. I don't think it's cheap at all - you're not stealing, you're not affecting quality of life, you're just not wasting usable soap.

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

I don't thin it's cheap, we do the same thing, it gets fused with a new one. Why waste it when you can still use it. On it's own it would be too small to use it but not if it's fused to a bigger one.

Now collecting all your slivers until you can make a new soap would be too much for me, you either use it now or you throw it away.

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

Not cheap; it's smart. I seldom use bars of soap, but when I do I use them until they virtually disappear.

Babybartfast got to keep the candy (which was wrapped, thank goodness) and one cheap-but-new-looking toy, and the rest are going straight back to Goodwill.

So they aren't good enough for you or your child, but they're good enough for Goodwill? Why do you think Goodwill would want them?

Agree.

I don't know. Things that are worn or ratty or smoky have no place being donated, but things that would be alright after a wash? I used to be time rich but cash poor and I would pick up slightly dirty but otherwise fine toys at garage sales or wherever and soak them in nappy sanitiser, wash them, hang them on the line in the sun and air to dry and they'd be good as new. Now I have the presence of money and absence of time and don't have the time to a) find and b) clean toys I wouldn't consider it and would pass on toys like that to the next person who may want them.

In other words, just because *I* don't want something, or don't have the time/inclination to return it to a usable state doesn't mean that noone would. I'm not familiar with Goodwill as such so I can't comment as to what they specifically would accept but I don't think that in general things should be trashed just because I, personally, don't have the time and energy to restore them to their former glory.

OTOH when MIL tried to give us some sheets that we didn't want on the basis that they were "too good to donate" - THEN I saw red.

If we take the attitude put forth by Luci and PaperRoses to its extreme end, then nobody would ever donate anything at all. "Not right for me" is not the same as "not right for anyone."

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

No I don't think that's cheap, it's frugal. Besides it's your soap, you've paid for it and it's not like you're depriving other people of anything. I think the difference between being cheap and being frugal is that being frugal is doing things to save money where you can but not to the detriment of others. For example, being frugal is eating from the set menu or using a coupon to save money. Being cheap is taking your own containers to a buffet and loading them up.

Not sure I'm explaining this right.

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And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

even better, when they're thin enough to be pliable, you can make them into weird shapes We always made them into circles and hung them on the towel rack, which pissed off mom

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

No I don't think that's cheap, it's frugal. Besides it's your soap, you've paid for it and it's not like you're depriving other people of anything. I think the difference between being cheap and being frugal is that being frugal is doing things to save money where you can but not to the detriment of others. For example, being frugal is eating from the set menu or using a coupon to save money. Being cheap is taking your own containers to a buffet and loading them up.

Not sure I'm explaining this right.

That's a pretty good handle on it.

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When angels go bad, they go worse than anyone. Remember, Lucifer was an angel. ~The Marquis De Carabas

Even if she tosses the worst toys, isn't she just like her MIL when she gives the rest of the ratty toys to Goodwill? Really, why not just throw all of them out? A person doesn't need to donate brand new items to Goodwill, just those in good condition. To me, "good condition" is defined as "the same condition I would accept for used goods in my home."

Sorry for the tangent - to get back on track: I don't mind some of the used toys my MIL picks up for the grandkids. Most are in really good condition and easy to clean. I do not accepted used stuffed toys b/c I can't get them clean enough for my standards. I did object to the used car seat. I don't think she was really a cheapskate but frugal - why spend lots of money that will be used for a short time.

Some are grungy and have been thrown out.

Some are too grungy for my taste and are being given to Goodwill - I assume Grandma got at least some of them at Goodwill in the first place, so obviously they're not too grungy for Goodwill's standards.

Some are brand-new but cheap toys which are not appropriate for a baby (very small plastic figures, cardboard puzzles) and are also going to Goodwill.

We're keeping the board book, the Easter maraca (?!), and one of the nicer stuffed rabbits.

Your heart is in the right place, but as someone who has volunteered heavily for their local Goodwill for a few years now, I'm asking you nicely to reconsider. Our volunteers try really, really hard to weed out the nasty, grungy stuff, but sometimes the volume just prohibits a really close inspection. To be frank, we spend a lot of time sorting through things people donate that really should have gone in the trash, and then we have the pleasure of using our time and financial resources hauling them away. Please do not donate anything you consider too gross for your own consumption. It really would be kinder to just put it in the trash rather than hoping it gets carefully scrutinized by our volunteers.

We would, however, welcome your donation of the puzzles and plastic toys that you feel don't fit your child's needs at this time.

And I like the idea of bringing a tall child's birth certificate to places like buffets and amusement parks. I was a tall child and my parents sometimes got the stinkeye from staff who thought we were trying to get in on the cheep. DD is 6 years old but looks closer to 8.

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

No I don't think that's cheap, it's frugal. Besides it's your soap, you've paid for it and it's not like you're depriving other people of anything. I think the difference between being cheap and being frugal is that being frugal is doing things to save money where you can but not to the detriment of others. For example, being frugal is eating from the set menu or using a coupon to save money. Being cheap is taking your own containers to a buffet and loading them up.

Not sure I'm explaining this right.

You sound right on to me.

For example - taking the bone out of a ham, freezing it until later, and using it for soup instead of buying tinned soup - frugal. Being served ham at an event, and sneaking the ham bone out in your purse - cheap.

Repairing your clothes instead of discarding them because of a small tear - frugalTaking things out of the lost and found bin because they are your size - cheap

Washing your own car instead of taking it someplace - frugalrunning out in a rainstorm with a bucket and a bar of soap to wash the car - cheap.

Cheap is mean spirited, taking advantage, using most people's good manners to get away with something outrageous because you know that no one will challenge you. Frugal is that old WWII era saying "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" - not buying or using unnecessary things because you want your money to go to something else.

My dad always complains about cheap people. His definition is a bit skewed, I think - he calls people cheap who won't spend money the way HE would spend it, not just people that are taking advantage - but I agree with the general spirit of what he says. Frugal people are frequently quite generous - with their time, their talents, and sometimes with their money, when it's for a good reason. Cheap people aren't generous. It's not in their nature.

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

Not cheap! Smart, is more like it.

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I've never knitted anything I could recognize when it was finished. Actually, I've never finished anything, much to my family's relief.

When they retired, both my parents and Mr. Thipu's parents thought that they could make do with one tea bag for two people. Both sets of parents soon decided that wasn't the best of ideas.

We do that. It's fine.

We do, too. My husband just dips he bag in and out of his hot water. He likes tea so weak that it hardly has a flavor. If I don't use the bag he'll save it for next time. He hangs it up on a cup hook and dries it out.

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I've never knitted anything I could recognize when it was finished. Actually, I've never finished anything, much to my family's relief.